Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I read a quote this morning, which states:

Here's to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.

I would add to that, saying here's to the men who support us, respect us, work with us and who are great colleagues. I would count the Minister among them as being a really good colleague. From the moment he stepped into his job, he has done nothing but advance the cause of equality, not just for women but across our whole society. Well done on that.

I am departing from the theme of the day and I possibly say this every year, but as a very young girl, I was brought to mass on a Sunday. It was the very first mass in a new church. The priest got up and announced that he wanted men to volunteer to do the readings and women to volunteer to clean the church. My mother's first outing and instruction to me in feminism was when she challenged him at the end of the mass, asking who he thought he was and remarking on his cheek for presuming that women were incapable of doing the readings and that men were incapable of cleaning the church. I was indoctrinated at a young age to stand my ground and call it out when I saw it.

I will thank a couple of people. First, I thank my mother for being a great model to me in standing one's ground, standing up for who one is, and having a value of women beyond any of the stereotypes that are cast at them. I want to spend my time this morning thanking a few particular women who have been extraordinary. To do what they do causes much stress. I hope that we are all on a trajectory to alleviate that stress. The first woman I want to support and really thank is a woman called Kathy Egan. With her husband Brian, they are facing the fact that he is very ill, with the possibility that he is terminally ill.She has stood up for the right to be known as the mother of her second child - the child she did not give birth to but had via surrogacy. She endures. She has attended court. She has cared for and loved her family and has been an incredible colleague in surrogacy advocacy. I just want to thank her this morning. She lives through a lot of stress and worry. Even as early as this morning, I spoke with the Minister for Health's office. I am very hopeful that we will have good news in the next few weeks. She stands for what is right and perseveres even when it is hard.

I also commend three women with whom I work locally, MJ and Helen from the Dublin 12 autism group and Miriam Kenny from Involve Autism, who are tireless campaigners on behalf of their children and as a consequence, on behalf of all children. We see great moves forward. We have seen it with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who I am delighted to see is fully in under the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. We will see great steps forward. Parents and mothers in Dublin 12 who in CHO 7 have very little to no services, which is very difficult, yet they persevere. Sometimes their constant advocacy is the reminder that they are here and they are the voice of their children so I commend them on their significant work.

When you are out in Dublin South Central, it brings you into touch with mothers in communities like Cherry Orchard and Ballyfermot who are fantastic advocates for their children and who stand up against a tiny element with criminal intent that is happy to groom their children into criminality. Those mothers stand in the way of that. They work several jobs to ensure they have the jackets, shoes and boots - everything their children need - so they will not be seduced into crime. These women are extraordinary. I will not name them because many of them like to remain anonymous but there are extraordinary mothers in our communities doing extraordinary work all the time.

This brings to me to a woman called Alesya and her daughter Lada. I met Alesya on Monday. I am godparent to her husband Kim, who is a political prisoner in Belarus. Senator Joe O'Reilly is godfather to Kim's brother. Both brothers were living very normal lives in Belarus but happened to go out and protest - as we are free to do here, thankfully. They have been sentenced to extraordinary terms in prison. Alesya is Ukrainian and married to a Belarusian with a Belarusian child. They had to flee Belarus because of the intimidation and fear for their own family. They then had to flee Ukraine. We got great assistance in ensuring they came to Ireland and they now live in Cork. She advocates. Every time she speaks for her husband and every time she stands outside the Russian embassy protesting on behalf of Ukraine and with the women here, she runs the risk of his family being targeted in Belarus. We need to remember them. They brought to mind the fact that there are 191 women political prisoners in Belarus jailed for no other reason than that they hold politically diverse views in opposition to a very authoritarian regime. I want to remember them today. It is really important. The Minister began by noting the Ukrainian women. We have incredible privilege. We often go to bat here on different sides of the House over different issues but we are entitled to express those views freely when this is not the case in many other countries. I remember the great work of Alesya and the women who are political prisoners in Belarus.